18th-century Venice is the ultimate setting for splendor—architectural, pictorial, theatrical, musical, and vocal. Venetian opera shines across Europe, combining dramatic intensity with the beauty of vocal lines. Just as Canaletto and Guardi capture every facet of La Serenissima in their panoramic paintings, composers seek to explore the full spectrum of human emotions through opera.Returning to the recording scene, Sophie Junker invites us to discover these composers alongside Martyna Pastuszka, leading the {oh!} Orkiestra. Her brilliant and agile soprano flourishes in arias of fury and vengeance (Vivaldi and Lotti) as well as in the heartrending laments of an Iphigenia (Porta) or an Ariadne (Marcello). Meanwhile, Martyna Pastuszka’s violin leads one of the magnificent concertos from La Stravaganza (“The Extraordinary”)—a fitting subtitle for this program!

If Born This Way was made for the Little Monsters, its 2013 sequel ARTPOP was made for the world. Lady Gaga has grand designs for her third album, to pull a "reverse Warhol," which presumably means she wants to channel high art into pop instead of pop into high art, but it's a little difficult to discern Gaga's intent, either in this statement or ARTPOP as a whole. Willfully existing simply on the surface, a surface that perhaps (or perhaps not) signifies a greater depth, ARTPOP is teasingly garish, its bright colors and brittle beats attacking with glee, the emphasis always on big, pulsating beats, shattered reflections, and sound cascading over song in every instance. Inevitably, this emphasis on production means the pop in ARTPOP winds up diminished; perhaps it's "pop" in the pop-art sense, as it's shamelessly intentionally populist, but as pop music it's stiff, relying not on hooks in either its melody or rhythm…

Could Alain Planès let the centenary of Satie’s death go by without paying tribute to this composer whom he admires above all others? On a 1928 Pleyel, he offers us a panoramic survey of this often droll, caustic music, which stubbornly resists classification. Marc Mauillon (in the songs) and François Pinel (in the pieces for piano four hands) accompany him in his exploration of the finest compositions of the ‘Maître d’Arcueil’. An exceptional CD, with a booklet ‘personally’ illustrated by both the composer and the performer themselves.

After a pair of solo efforts that veered from eccentric yet inspired (Monkey Grip) to eccentric and uninspired (Stone Alone), Bill Wyman (The Rolling Stones) perfected his blend of rock & roll and oddball humor into one solid album on 1982's Bill Wyman. Instead of utilizing the all-star group of backup musicians that dominated his previous solo outings, Bill Wyman found the veteran rocker handling much of the instrumentation himself, with only a rhythm section and a few guest stars pitching in. The result is a crisp, consistent sound that mixes the electronic edge of new wave with good, old-fashioned rock & roll production values. Bill Wyman also benefits from catchy, well-written songs that provide a hook-laden backdrop for Wyman's humorous musings: "A New Fashion" is a witheringly acidic send-up of trend-chasing pop stars that layers a memorably melodic chorus over an effectively sparse electronic backdrop…

This is a previously unpublished album including Beethoven's late masterpieces, Piano sonatas, Op.109 & 110 and Bach's uncommon Overture in the French Style, drawing inspiration from the French tradition of François Couperin and showcasing the perfect technique and musical inspiration of one of the greatest French pianists at his best.

In the early nineteenth century, the house concert was the most common form of musical performance in Vienna. Professionals featured alongside aristocratic music lovers and ambitious bourgeois amateur musicians, and composers presented their works. While Beethoven's admirers were largely counted among the Austrian and Bohemian nobility, Schubert's circle tended to consist of literati, artists, and state officials who saw the salon as a protected space where both aesthetic and political debates could be held.

This collection of classic Aretha Franklin songs includes timeless hits like "Just for a Thrill", "Maybe I'm a Fool", "Unforgettable", "Only the Lonely", "Until You Were Gone", "Blue Holiday" and more.
Aretha Franklin was one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of late-'60s hits with Atlantic Records earned her the title Queen of Soul. Franklin never rested on her laurels. Following the early-'70s LPs Spirit in the Dark and Young, Gifted and Black, she scored more hits on the R&B charts than pop, adeptly following the progression of soul in the '70s and '80s thanks to her collaborations with Curtis Mayfield (1976's Sparkle) and Luther Vandross (1982's Jump to It)…

The Wildhearts return in 2025 with a brand new album. Titled ‘Satanic Rites of the Wildhearts’ produced / mixed by Jim Pinder and Carl Bown (Sleep Token / Bullet For My Valentine / While She Sleeps) the record is conceived as a belated follow-up to the classic debut, ‘Earth vs The Wildhearts’. These are songs of defiance and hope, of ragged glory, of true heart-on-sleeve emotion; songs that sound like no-one else on this planet (or the explored parts of space) – all of which holds true for the new album, the band’s first for Snakefarm…. Lead single / video, ‘Failure Is The Mother Of Success’, sums up the album – the 11th since ‘Earth vs…’ – via a spectacular eight minute lap taking in all manner of twists and turns, and the message here is plain, forged through sharp-end experience…

Named after the legend painted on Paul Weller’s amp, Fire And Skill is a superb six disc boxed set – featuring six previously unreleased concerts, one from each year of The Jam’s major-label career.

The Jam were the most popular band to emerge from the initial wave of British punk rock in 1977; along with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and the Buzzcocks, the Jam had the highest impact on pop music. While they could barely get noticed in America, the trio became genuine superstars in Britain, with an impressive string of Top Ten singles in the late '70s and early '80s. The Jam could never have a hit in America because they were thoroughly and defiantly British. Under the direction of guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Paul Weller, the trio spearheaded a revival of mid-'60s mod groups, in the style of the Who and the Small Faces. Like the mod bands, the group dressed stylishly, worshipped American R&B, and played it loud and rough. By the time of the group's third album, Weller's songwriting had grown substantially, as he was beginning to write social commentaries and pop songs in the vein of the Kinks. Both his political songs and his romantic songs were steeped in British culture, filled with references and slang in the lyrics, as well as musical allusions. Furthermore, as the Jam grew more popular and musically accessible, Weller became more insistent and stubborn about his beliefs, supporting leftist causes and adhering to the pop aesthetics of '60s British rock without ever succumbing to hippie values. Paradoxically, that meant even when their music became more pop than punk, they never abandoned the punk values – if anything, Weller stuck to the strident independent ethics of 1977 more than any other punk band just by refusing to change.

One of the best releases of 2025 so far happens to be this lazy, breezy, folk-country gem from 1977. Oceanside Countryside is part of Neil Young's Analog Originals project, designed to preserve the sound quality of the original masters, and it's a real joy to dive into this era and hear anything new (or in this case, newly reconstituted).

Ravel Fragments marks Bertrand Chamayou's tribute to the 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel's birthday, a composer deeply influential throughout his career. The album features Ravel’s transcriptions of La Valse and excerpts from Daphnis et Chloé, Chamayou’s own transcriptions of vocal works, and pieces inspired by Ravel, spanning both historical and contemporary composers Including works by 20th-century composers Arthur Honegger, Joaquín Nin, Alexandre Tansman, Xavier Montsalvatge, and Ricardo Viñes, alongside contemporary tributes by Betsy Jolas, Salvatore Sciarrino, and Frédéric Durieux.

Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) and Cambridge Handel Opera Company (CHOC) follow their Gramophone-nominated recording of Eccles’ Semele with a world-premiere recording of John Weldon’s masque The Judgment of Paris. In 1700 the Earl of Halifax decided England needed all-sung opera. He offered a ‘Musick Prize’ of 100 guineas for the best setting of the libretto of The Judgement of Paris by William Congreve, with entries by composers like John Eccles and Daniel Purcell. Weldon’s setting, which won the competition but was never published, is recorded here for the first time. Released as a hardback mediabook, the CD is accompanied by a host of fascinating essays written specially by historians, musicologists and other experts – finally giving this winning masque the attention it deserves.

Muse, and Matt Bellamy in particular, make no bones about Drones: their seventh album is political through and through, a bold statement concerning the dehumanization of modern warfare. As Muse is not a subtle band - any suspicion they were is erased by the artwork depicting a hand controlling the joystick of an office drone controlling a joystick directing drones - it's hard to avoid their conclusion that war is bad, but this inclination to write everything in bold, italicized capital letters is an asset when it comes to music, particularly here where they've teamed with legendary hard rock producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Always a sucker for oversized guitar riffs and bigger drums, Lange also allows the trio to indulge in a bit of Floydian fantasies - the made-to-order dialogue of "Drill Sergeant" is straight out of The Wall - but he spends much of Drone sharpening Muse's synthesis of every arena rock idea ever essayed…

Alt rock legend Bob Mould returns with his 2025 album. The legendary former frontman of Husker Du and Sugar delivers 11 slices of anthemic, emotional driving alt rock. Featuring singles 'Here We Go Crazy', 'When Your Heart Is Broken' and 'Breathing Room' the album finds Bob on top form.